Just under a year ago I posted an article of a similar kind to this one, outlining who the Angels would keep and who the Angels would shuffle out of the organization after 2015. The purpose was to highlight what a rebuilt offense could look like, but most of it was vanilla—I’d stated the obvious and missed on that which I could not predict.

What I didn’t do in that article was outline what a holistic organizational rebuild might look like and what approaches a club might take to accomplish that goal. I want to do that now, going through what an actual rebuild might look like for the Angels over the next several months, incorporating a variety of scenarios.

Today, we dive into the first rebuild strategy:

The Slight Retooling

This is what most teams go through at the trade deadline and offseason. They’re trying to make the jump from a 78-84 win team into the more profitable 87-93 win range without sacrificing their future. Most of these teams aren’t big buyers or sellers at the trade deadline. Instead they sit out until a deal presents itself that’s too good to pass up. During the winter, they might be in on some of the lower priced free agents and try making some savvy short-term investments with marginal risk.

What might this look like for the Angels?

Trade Deadline

Well, for starters, if the Angels are to be a part of this group that’d mean they are hovering around .500. The odds of that don’t look great at the moment, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Pitching can still be expected to be a weakness come July, so in this scenario it’s possible the Angels go after guys like Ricky Nolasco, Tyson Ross, or Andrew Cashner, all pitchers with question marks.

On the pitching side of things, the Angels would likely look for pitchers that could stabilize the rotation. These aren’t the ace types a team spends $20+ million on to try and compete immediately. These are the type of #3-4-5 starters that teams invest in with the hopes of getting 200 innings and an ERA under 4.00. Cashner would be on this list, as well as Jon Niese and Jeremy Hellickson. The Angels could also be in the market for a setup man, of which there are seemingly a multitude. Joe Smith has expressed significant interest in a return to Anaheim, so maybe that happens.